That smile
by Heat Castle
Summary: That smile. She had seen it only a few times, and it had been a long, long time ago. Finally, it was back.


"I thought I'd never see one of those again."

Regina was looking at Henry trying to convince David to hand him the baby for some time. She looked to her side and found Snow looking at her with a small smile and an almost unbearable tenderness in her eyes. She smiled back and, with a gesture of her head, invited Snow to join her.

"What are you talking about?" Regina asked, frowning slightly, confused with Snow's words.

"That smile," Snow replied, gesturing towards Regina's face. "It's been quite some time since the last time I saw one of those," she added with a knowing look.

"I almost forgot I could do this," Regina confessed, before Ruby filled up her glass with fresh orange juice. "And it is still a bit odd to smile like I can," she added in a whisper as though she feared something could happen and take all that peace away from her.

"Of all people in this town, Regina, you must be the one who can smile as much as you wish."

"Perhaps, but I still feel like something is going to happen and I will lose everything again," Regina replied quietly, looking over to the booth where Robin was trying to feed Roland with pancakes and a glass of apple juice.

"I guess I understand you, but you should let yourself believe, Regina. Love, true love is magic, remember?" Snow asked her and it was her turn to look over at David rocking the baby in his arms while mumbling a strange lullaby.

"Yes, I do remember," of course she did. She had experienced that a few days back. And it was an overwhelming feeling.

Regina's mind wandered back and the whole speech of true love being the most powerful kind of magic echoed in her mind. Shaking her head, Regina didn't let her thoughts go in the loveless place where she had once buried the faith she had in true love's magic.

Snow had encouraged her in ways she would never be able to thank properly. Regina felt like the happiness she was experiencing wasn't real, she certainly didn't deserve that. She was a bad person for too long, did too many evil things and tormented too many innocents to deserve anything but loneliness and sadness.

Now, however, she believed she could let herself dive into this new relationship with Robin_. It doesn't matter_, Tinkerbell told her the night before, _it's written in the stars and you should focus on being happy. It's been too long, Regina_. She smiled at her friend.

"The person you are now, Regina, is the one that matters. The past is not important, not anymore." Snow squeezed Regina's hands lightly, as usual, smiling. A genuine contentment in her eyes, something that almost had brought tears to Regina's eyes.

"I would love if you'd stop being so sweet. I may develop diabetes," Regina huffed mockingly, and tried to suppress a grin, not really succeeding in doing so. "Thank you for believing in me, though," she said and squeezed Snow's hand. "It's not easy to trust me after all I did to you."

"As I said, the past is not important anymore. Besides, you saved my son and my husband, and I have a debt to you for what you did. You literally saved this family."

There was a huge lump holding back the reply Regina found to be useless. She looked around to see _her_ family together. Henry was playing with Roland while Robin was still trying to feed his boy. He looked over to her and sent her the brightest smile ever. Emma was engaged in some conversation with Hook and David kept rocking Neal, singing strangely.

"You don't need to thank me," she replied a few minutes later. "I'm sure you would've done the same for me."

"That I would," Snow looked around, following Regina's gaze. "But I need to thank you for one little thing."

"What is it?"

"Thank you for teaching me that it was worth fighting for this," and she gesture towards their family.

Regina smiled and closed her eyes. Yes, true love was magic, and so worth fighting for.

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><p>Snow Queen because this relationship is everything on the show u.u<p>

**Reviews are much appreciated, but most importantly thanks for giving it a try.**

**=)**


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